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From: ljdickey@water.UUCP (Lee Dickey)
Newsgroups: net.lang.apl
Subject: Re: Converting APL workspaces
Message-ID: <467@water.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 22-Jul-86 11:02:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: water.467
Posted: Tue Jul 22 11:02:07 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Jul-86 02:33:11 EDT
References: <2699@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> <361@nbs-amrf.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 65

> Lee, I never heard of WSIS1.  Could you briefly describe what the
> differences between WSIS1 and WSIS0 are?

There are several differences:

(1) There is one more class of canonical representation vector:

	WSIS0	WSIS1	Meaning

	C	C	Character array
	N	N	Numeric array
	F	F	Function
	P	P	Pseudovariable
		Q	Executable expression
	X	X	Installation dependent

The "Q" class is for executable expressions.  For example you could have

	19Q#fx 2 2 4 FOO A+23

(The "#" stands for an APL "quad".)  This class Q could replace C, N,
and F, if you wanted it to, but it has the complication of doubling 
quotes in character strings.  Not quite as clean, but it is implemented
correctly on some systems.

(2) The first Pseudovariable is changed:

		From "9PWSIS 0 0" to "9PWSIS 0 1".

(3) There are two new Pseudovariables that allow representation of an
enormous character set.  At present, still only the APL char set (regn
no. 68) can be used in a conforming program.  But DATA may be chosen
from any registered character set.  (There are many.)

	(a)	BITS
			this tells how many bits are being used
			for each character (at least 8).
	(b)	ESCAPE
			this identifies what character set each
			element of the atomic vector is taken from.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope that helps.  There are more details, of course, but that is a
rough outline.  You can find out more by looking at APL Quote Quad,
Volume 14, Number 2, December 1983.  This was the issue that was
dedicated to the APL Standard.  In it there is something called Annex
B, which is devoted to WSIS1.  There have been some corrections to the
standard since then, but the outline of the standard today is pretty
much as it was then.  I think that Annex B has not changed, except that
it has been re-typeset, and possibly typos may have crept in.  But, to
get the best copy, you should get in touch with the International
Standards Organization, and ask for Draft Proposal 8485, February 25,
1986.  As an easier alternative, contact your local national standards
committee for the latest version.  These are the countries that I know
of that have active working groups.

	Country		Standards Group

	USA		ANSI X3J10 
	UK		BSI APL Working Group 
	Canada		CSA APL WG
	France		AFNOR APL Group de Travail
	W.Germany	DIN
	Sweden		SIS
	Belgium		?